Method guide · Work with a structured grid
Team Success Beacon
Use when a team needs recurring records of mood and indicators that can be compared over time.
- People
- 3–15
- Base procedure time
- 30 minutes
- Recording
- Shared record
Purpose: Reflect and learn; Build working relationships.
English guide
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How this method works
Record the team’s state regularly using the same perspectives and discuss changes. “Team Success Beacon” refers to this recording surface. Use for teams whose daily progress checks do not capture changes in mood, imbalances in skills or less visible differences in knowledge. The facilitator prepares the same perspectives each time and everyone quietly records mood and indicators, allowing change to be compared over time without being driven only by the impressions of those with greater influence in discussion. The outputs are records for each perspective, an action to try next with an owner, and issues that could not be covered in time and need a separate discussion. A one-off session cannot provide a comparison of changes. This is not suitable where psychological safety is low or an emergency response is needed.
Phase schedule
Minutes are cumulative from the start of the base plan, not a live timer. Read scaling for any additional time. Phase controls do not advance automatically.
Use the arrow keys, Home or End while these controls have focus. The complete phase schedule remains below, including without JavaScript.
- Show what to record0–3 minutes from the start (3 minutes)
Action: Show. Participation: Everyone.
Recording not separately specified for this phase
- Record quietly3–12 minutes from the start (9 minutes)
Action: Record. Participation: Everyone.
Individual record
- Open the dialogue12–30 minutes from the start (18 minutes)
Action: Open. Participation: Everyone.
Shared record
Facilitation steps
- For 3 minutes, the facilitator shows the mood target, an open question and the perspectives for sticker voting on the recording surface.
- For 5 minutes, each person places a mark on the mood target and writes a brief answer to the open question.
- For 4 minutes, each person places their votes for the sticker poll and adds a note if an indicator concerns them.
- For 6 minutes, the facilitator reads the pattern on the mood target and asks why people placed their marks there.
- For 8 minutes, discuss the question and voting results together and write down a small action to try next.
- For 4 minutes, move topics that cannot be completed in time to a separate-issues field and assign owners.
If something changes
If
With 3 minutes of recording time remaining, marks on the mood target still represent fewer than half of the participants.
Then
The facilitator places their own mark first as one example of how to do it.
If
One topic has taken 5 minutes without reaching a conclusion.
Then
Move the topic to the separate-issues field and decide its owner and when to discuss it next before continuing.
If
With 2 minutes left in the dialogue, there are still 0 actions to try next.
Then
Select the point on the mood target with the greatest division and name one small experiment focused only on that point.
Preparation
Materials
- One A1 mood-target sheet with 3 printed fields: mood, indicators and questions
- Voting stickers: 5 per person
- Sticky notes for answers to the questions: 3 per person
- Dark pens: one per person
Room and setup
- One board-mounting area at least 150 cm wide that everyone can approach at the same time
- Standing positions at least 50 cm apart so that neighbouring responses are not too visible during writing
Adjust for people and time
With fewer than 3 people, the mood target does not provide anonymity and candid recording is difficult. For 3–15 people, everyone shares one recording surface; prepare stickers and sticky notes for the number of participants. With more than 15 people, divide the recording surfaces by units that normally work together, assign a facilitator to each unit and run the sessions simultaneously.
Safety and non-applicable situations
Do not use this where psychological safety is low or emergency action is needed. Keep standing positions at least 50 cm apart during writing. With fewer than 3 people, the mood target does not provide anonymity; a one-off session also cannot support comparison over time.
Manuscript's recorded references
These translate the original manuscript's source and rights claims. They remain separate from any current-page notice below; they do not establish new verification.
- John Westcott IV; Kellie Montgomery: Team Success Beacon
https://openpracticelibrary.com/practice/team-success-beacon/
CC BY 4.0 adaptation; changes made
- CC BY 4.0
Current-page licence notice
A Taiwa no Fumen adaptation based on the Open Practice Library practice identified below. The manuscript's recorded references and the source page checked for this notice are shown separately.
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Credits on the checked source page
- Named contributors on the source page: John Westcott IV, Kellie Montgomery
- Contributors listed in the official practice source (repository handles): @john-westcott-iv, @kelliemonty, @kmontgom
Source page checked on 2026-10-17: Team Success Beacon.
Source lineage
CC BY-SA 4.0 — this site's adaptation and translation contributions · Legal code · Official source policy
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Diagram, print, and video language
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Editorial provenance
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